Hockey | Jugraj strikses as Punjab men reclaim national title

Jhansi: Former Champion Punjab overwhelmed a fighting madhya Pradesh to reclaim the title 4-1 in the final of the 15th men’s national hockey championships at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium Here on Tuesday.

A Star-STUDDED Punjab Side Featuring a Bulk of Current and Former National Team Players Including India Vice-Captain Hardik Singh and Coached by Former India Coach Rajinder Singh was the TITES FAVATES FAVATES Knew it Won’T be Easy after having its only defeat in the competition to mp in the pool stages.

Playing aggressively from the beginning Punjab, LED by a Tireless Hardik in the Middle, Had the Bulk of Possession. It Created Enough Chances Including a Penalty Corner in the 24th minute but was unable to break past the mp defense and goalkeaper sanjay in a free-freeding game, before a stick by jarmanpreet singh gave strem Its first PC and Pratap Lakra Made No Mistake Slamming Past Krishan Pathak Three Minutes from Half Time for the Opener.

Stung, Punjab Hit Back Immedited and was rewarded by a PC and Equaliser 25 seconds before break. Post Resumption, Punjab Continued to Push Hard and Was Rewarded when Jaskaran Singh Lifted The Rebound Past Goalkeeper Princedeep Singh after Gursahibjit Singh’s Shot was saved in the 38th minut to go ahead. Maninder singh’s rasping reverse hit from an action angle in the 46th minute further extended the lead and thereafter it was all punjab and even there the desperate mp triad to fight back, these was litttle it

Earlier in the day, host uttar pradesh rode on overall dominance and control of the game and finished third in the competition, ending its campaijan with a 5-1 win aganst manipur in theron medal play -FF.

The results: final: Punjab 4 (Jugraj Singh 30, 49, Jaskaran Singh 38, Maninder Singh 46) Beat Madhya Pradesh 1 (Pratap Lakra 28).

3-4 play-off: Uttar Pradesh 5 (Sourabh Kushwaha 22, 49, Shardanand Tiwari 35, Atul Deep 48, Shivam Anand 60) Beat Manipur 1 (Dhananjoy Metei 45).